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Category: Financial Law

Plot: an investor wants revenues and no taxes to pay. He purchases a private-placement life-insurance policy. The insurance company plans investments in alternative assets such as hedge funds, where profits are taxed as “capital gains”, but, since these involve an insurance company (subject to certain restrictions), the dough is tax-free.

The Netherlands: a client who has engaged in a mortgage and wishes to pay back the whole amount in advance must not pay a penalty fee higher that the economic loss of the bank, so said the AFM (Dutch authority on Financial markets). Yet, many banks didn’t accurately and clearly calculated such fees.

On the light of the recent ruling by Mr Justice Hildyard, notes taken by the bank during meetings with their lawyers and any bank employees regarding an internal investigation can be disclosable in court.

All the promises to make life harder for bankers and Wall Street bankers had faded away since a long time.
On a similar note, Trump also signed a presidential memorandum to delay implementation of the Labor Department’s Fiduciary Duty Rule. If implemented, such rule would expand the definition of “investment advice fiduciary” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and, in turn, qualify all financial professionals who work with retirement plans (or provide retirement planning advice) to the level of fiduciary.
Clearly, if this is not signed, lots of people would be allowed to work with such products without the normal duties of a financial adviser.

The AMF and the ACPR have announced that investment firms, payment institutions, electronic money institutions and insurance firms, currently under the supervision of the ACPR and wishing to pursue their current activities in France, would be subject to a simplified and accelerated procedure to obtain authorisation in France.